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Archived News:
Publisher ATLUS and Big Finish Games announce a publishing deal for Tesla
Effect: A Tex Murphy Adventure, the title of the throwback FMV adventure
game sequel Kickstarted under
the codename Tex Murphy - Project Fedora. "The success of the Tex Murphy
Kickstarter proved to us that fans were still out in the world, craving the
nostalgic adventure gaming the series is known for," said Ryan Jones, Big Finish
Games. "By partnering with ATLUS, we're going to bring the magic of Tex to a
global audience in a big way. Their continued support will help us deliver the
most exciting Tex Murphy adventure yet." Word is the game will be release for
Windows early next year and that it will also be coming to OS X, though they do
not say the releases will coincide. The Tex
Murphy website offers a
semi-recent teaser trailer and should be where to keep up with this
project. Continue here to read the full story.
A
Steam Greenlight announcement informs us that Valve has given the greenlight
to no fewer than 100 new games, boosting the number of titles with publishing
deals from the program to 260. It's no accident that so many titles were
approved this time, as Valve explains this is the result of how they've been
refining the system: "This latest milestone is both a celebration of the
progress we've made behind the scenes and a stress test of our systems. Future
batches are not likely to be as large, but if everything goes smoothly we should
be able to continue increasing the throughput of games from Greenlight to the
Steam store." The large list of new games makes it difficult to list them all
properly, so they put together
this list to help sort this through.
Sony Online Entertainment has announced layoffs at their San Diego and Austin
offices, reports
GameSpot. They offer an official statement: "As part of a strategic
decision to reduce costs and streamline its workforce, SOE announced today that
it will eliminate positions in both its San Diego and Austin studios," the
company said in a statement.
"This strategic alignment of resources better positions SOE to remain a global
leader in online games, as well as to align development resources towards our
current portfolio of MMOs and the highly-anticipated future installments of the
EverQuest franchise, EverQuest Next Landmark and EverQuest Next."
Publisher Devolver Digital and developer Vagabond Dog announce Always Sometimes
Monsters, "an unconventional RPG about life, love and the lengths that we will
go to find happiness in both" coming to PCs next year.
These screenshots and a
teaser trailer offers a
look at what a comment by Devolver refers to as "one of our favorite little
experimental games." The game will be on display this weekend at PAX Prime, and
here's the announcement: TORONTO – August 28, 2013 – Independent
developer Vagabond Dog and the consummate professionals of Devolver Digital have
announced Always Sometimes Monsters, an unconventional RPG about life, love and
the lengths that we will go to find happiness in both. Set to release on PC in
2014, Always Sometimes Monsters aims to explore themes and issues of the modern
world where decisions you make affect your life and the lives of those around
you.
Players will assume the role of a character out of luck, out of money and on the
verge of collapse after learning their beloved is set to marry someone else.
Choose from characters of different gender, race, and sexual orientation and set
out on the open road to overcome everything and everyone that life throws at you
on your way to redemption. Start and end relationships with a colorful cast of
characters, make an honest buck or lie for a few more dollars more and deal with
friendship and prejudice as you make your way through the modern grind.
Continue here to read the full story.
Steam News announces the
release of Teenage Mutant
Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows, offering a serving of mutant on the
half-shell. This is also on
GameStop PC
Downloads, and here's word: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows
takes you back to how it all began. Be the four Turtles Leonardo, Donatello,
Michelangelo, and Raphael in the fight to save New York City from mutants, the
Foot and Shredder. With seamless co-op, along with team combo moves and
relentless combat, this is the game fans have been waiting for.
Contraption Maker is now available for early access
on Steam, offering the
chance to check out the construction game on the cheap while it's still under
construction. Here's word from
the announcement: The
team that created the original Incredible Machine® is bringing all of the Rube
Goldberg craziness to the modern age. Buy it now through Steam Early Access.
The final version will have you Solving puzzles involving ridiculous chain
reactions full of hamster motors, trampolines, alligators, cats, and so much
more. Our Alpha release focuses on the Maker Lab, where you can create your own
contraptions. Everything you loved about the original game is back and improved
with a new physics engine, high definition art, and new parts and
programmability.
Pre-purchases are now underway
on Steam for F1 2013,
where Codemasters' Formula One racing sequel can be had for 10% off prior to its
planned release on October 4th. In addition to the discount, this involves one
of those escalating reward systems based on the number of preorders they rack
up. They are already close to hitting the first milestone that adds a free copy
of F1 RACE STARS to the
deal, and the following two tiers will potentially add a 50% off coupon for any
Codemasters game on Steam (except F1 2013 Mr. Sneakypants... you're the type who
would try to wish for more wishes from the genie) and a free copy F1 2012.
Here's a bit on the new game: Make history in FORMULA ONE™! F1™ 2013
features all the cars, stars and circuits from the 2013 FIA FORMULA ONE WORLD
CHAMPIONSHIP™ plus, for the first time, classic content. F1 Classics is an
expansive new game mode, introduced by legendary broadcaster Murray Walker, in
which you’ll race legendary drivers in famous cars on iconic circuits from the
1980s. This classic content can be played in a range of modes including
split-screen and online multiplayer.
F1 2013 also features all of the new drivers, team moves, tyre changes and
remodelled handling to recreate the thrill of racing 2013’s stunning roster of
FORMULA ONE cars. New enhancements, improvements plus new, expanded and
returning game modes combine to deliver the most complete simulation of a
FORMULA ONE season in videogame history.
Also, available is the F1 2013: CLASSIC EDITION. A premium package which
features all the cars, stars and circuits from the 2013 FIA FORMULA ONE WORLD
CHAMPIONSHIP plus, for the first time in the series, classic content. F1
Classics is an expansive new game mode in which you’ll race legendary drivers in
famous cars at iconic circuits from the 1980s.
An
update on Kickstarter has the latest on Wasteland 2, the upcoming RPG
sequel in the works at inXile entertainment. This includes word that the game's
first developer diary is now available, though this is only for their backers
who are in for $30.00 or more, a sign of strange times for the game industry
when you are creating marketing materials exclusively for people who have
already bought the game. On a more egalitarian front, they also now offer all
visitors a new video
that runs over 18 minutes, featuring a demo run-through of the game's prison
level. Here's word: This area was not built purely for demoing purposes
and it is a straight video capture. While the level will be further polished and
improved (we’re missing a bunch of sounds among other things), it gives you a
sense of the final game flow. The level was the winner of an internal
competition process (as mentioned last update). This is only a tiny fraction of
the game which is very hard to show in a 20 minute update. It represents about
1/3rd of the prison map and isn’t even one of the larger levels, so you can
imagine it can be tricky for us to share enough without too many spoilers or
overwhelming you.
Another particular focus of the video is showing the game’s progression, which
highlights the back-and-forth communication with you, our backers. From the
renaming of the characteristics into the CLASSIC acronym to our multiple
iterations on the UI based on very direct but very useful feedback from our fans
(and it is still customizable to your tastes, for example you can configure the
text window depending on how much you want it to show).
Continue here to read the full story.
Indie developer
Ornitocopter announces Back in the Caves, a roguelike-like game with
platformer elements set in prehistoric times. Details are scant for now, but
they offer a gameplay-free
teaser trailer, and here's a descriptive bit from the description: As
the cavemen’s hero you will have to explore and fight in procedurally generated
caves to ensure the survival of your village and humanity itself. Beware as the
dark caves aren’t a place for weaklings. Prepare yourself for every insane
adventure this game will throw your way. And be prepared to die. Because, you
know… you WILL die. Survival of the fittest, right?
Collect a wide range of weapons from the skeletal fingers of unfortunate
adventurers and watch them become more powerful with every enemy you kill. Every
weapon has a special ability. Use it wisely if you want to survive!
Continue here to read the full story.
Those who have preordered Total War Rome II
on Steam can now preload
Creative Assembly's strategy sequel in preparation for next week's release.
The announcement also
stresses that time is running out to get in on the game's preorder
incentives: Pre-Load
Total War Rome II now and be ready to play when it releases!
Plus, it's the last chance to pre-purchase and receive
The Greek States Culture
Pack and the Greek Hellenic Armor for The Pyro, Egyptian Cheetah, the
Barbarian Set for the Demo and now the Laurel Wreath for all the classes. The
Laurel Wreath unlocks a special "Romebot" invasion in Team Fortress 2's MVM
mode.
The award-winning Total War series returns to Rome, setting a brand new quality
benchmark for Strategy gaming. Become the world’s first superpower and command
the Ancient world’s most incredible war machine. Dominate your enemies by
military, economic and political means. Your ascension will bring both
admiration and jealousy, even from your closet allies.
MMORPG.com - Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn Great Game, Poor Service Part
One.
Like most MMO launch issues, I do expect that things will be OK within a
week, maybe two, and many who stick around will likely chalk this up as a
bump in the road months from now, but Yoshida and his team worked incredibly
hard to give this game a second chance and it’s incredibly unfortunate that
this self-inflicted wound may kill a lot of that momentum. I really hope
this isn’t the case, but it’s definitely given me cause for concern.
Gearbox Software announces the Borderlands 2 Game of the Year Edition,
a bundle of the first-person shooter/RPG and all its additional content expected
for release in North America on October 8th (USD $59.99) and internationally on October 11th.
"The success of Borderlands 2 has been tremendous, and the game is on-track to
become the highest-selling title in the history of 2K," said Christoph Hartmann,
President of 2K. "With the Game of the Year Edition releasing this fall, fans
will have the opportunity to get their hands on the most comprehensive
Borderlands 2 bundle at an incredible price."
The Square
Enix Facebook page has word that they have temporarily suspended online
sales of FINAL FANTASY XIV: A Realm
Reborn due to "the overwhelmingly positive response" the just
re-launched MMORPG (thanks
Eurogamer). Here's word: Important Notice About FINAL FANTASY XIV: A
Realm Reborn - Due to the overwhelmingly positive response to FINAL FANTASY XIV:
A Realm Reborn, we are currently experiencing extremely long wait times for
users to be able to log in and play. As a temporary measure, we will halt sales
of FINAL FANTASY XIV: A REALM REBORN’s digital download products so we can
accommodate all of those wishing to play. We are working to expand our server
capacity in the coming days.
We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience this causes.
Wired's Game|Life
has the interesting backstory on Dean Hall's real-life experience that inspired
his development of DayZ, the Arma II zombie modification that's
now in the works as a standalone game. The idea for the survival game came to
Hall as he underwent his own ordeal as a cadet in the New Zealand army
tasked with surviving in the jungles of Brunei for 20 days on two-days worth of
food. Here's a bit: That night, as water pooled around his bed and ramen
roiled his stomach, he imagined himself inside his favorite videogame, a
military simulation for PCs called Arma 2. He had been playing it since its
release in 2009 and often spent three to four hours a day on the game. Now,
lying on the jungle floor, his feverish imagination turned Arma 2 into something
different. He visualized a new kind of game, one in which there were no
missions, no objectives, and no ability to simply be respawn when killed. You
had one life, and if you lost it, you lost everything.
Physically, Hall was a mess when he emerged from the jungle — he underwent
emergency surgery for an intestinal blockage. But intellectually, he was
energized by his visions and inspired to build a new Arma 2 modification.
"The cadence of the releases seems to have found a nice equilibrium with
people's appetite,"
Activision boss Eric Hirshberg told Eurogamer at Gamescom. "There's demand
and excitement each and every time out. Then people are playing throughout the
year. We have our biggest community of players today. Right now there are more
people playing Call of Duty today than ever, which is remarkable for a franchise
that's been around as long as Call of Duty has. But, we don't take anything for
granted."
"I think the core Battlefield idea that we're working on at DICE is... We can't
build a game at DICE every year,"
Battlefield 4 executive producer Patrick Bach said during Gamescom according to
Videogamer. "You saw with Battlefield 3, for instance, it's not that there's
not an urge for more Battlefield. You mentioned Premium – we [had] 18 months
worth of Battlefield and people want more things during that time. Now it's been
almost two years and people feel like they are continuously playing – we still
have huge amounts of players playing Battlefield 3. So I think in general,
people apparently want Battlefield all year round."
opensource.com - Afraid someone will steal your idea? Thanks Ant
via
Slashdot.
Even if your idea is 100% original, the idea alone isn't valuable, it's
the work of revealing emergent properties that makes the idea valuable.
Taking Bauza's Hanabi example again: For a game that elegant, you know there
was a lot of time put into every design decision. With so few mechanics,
everything becomes that much more important. How many suits should be in the
deck? How many cards of each rank should be in the deck? What's an average
score across one hundred games? How do people communicate with each other in
play? None of these questions get answered unless the "idea" becomes a
reality at the table. There are uncountable emergent properties that just
don't reveal themselves until you playtest.
Not long ago I had the misfortune of encountering a Sheriff's car in the oncoming lane moments after
completing a pass where two lanes were becoming one, leaving me temporarily
further above the speed limit than a lawman's leeway will allow. I tend to be a
prudent driver, and this is the first time I've been pulled over in years, but
you are not entitled to speed while passing, and he got me fair-and-square.
Noting my clean driving record, the Sheriff was sympathetic with my plight,
though not enough to prevent him from giving me the ticket, so I have a court
date today to pay my debt to society. Typically the court will shave a few
miles-per-hour off speeding for the fine, though I'm holding out a sliver of
hope this can be knocked down to a non-moving violation.
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